I woke up at 2:30am. It's 3am now, and I can't sleep. So, here's a slightly random thought brought on by the whole gay marriage issue.
If homosexuality is genetic (as I believe that it largely is) and we, the planet, pursue a policy of eugenics, does that mean that homosexuality will eventually be eradicated?
I mean, if we reach a point where we can "design" our children (ok, I'm talking far future here), and you could pick height, weight, hair color and sexual orientation...aren't you going to pick "straight" every time?
Maybe not. I dunno. That's why it's a "random thought".
Ignoring the biological basis for homosexuality at the moment, changing the frequency of any gene within the human population is hard. We have long generation times, and any effort to change the frequency of a single gene is going to take longer than any policy is going to be in force.
Radically changes are possible, say resistance to plague, as anyone sensitive dies- pretty quickly, but deliberately killing millions isn't politically acceptable.
A confounding problem is that mutation is constantly drip feeding new genes into the population, and you can't do anything to stop that from happening.
Changing gene frequencies takes a lot of generations: easy with bacteria; possible with dogs and other (short generation time) domesticated plants and animals; hard with humans. Tampering directly at the genetic level is theoretically possible, but again it's politically unpalatable.
IAAPG: I am a population geneticist.
On the other hand, homosexuality could be produced, at least in some cases, by some inborn factor, like left-handedness maybe, something that isn't inherited from parents to children. For example, there's a constant proportion of children who, at birth, have a biologically non-dertermined sex; maybe the genetic basis for homosexuality -- if there is any -- is of same nature.
Re:Genes and inheritance
djberg96 on 2004-03-22T16:10:31
I see no evidence why homosexuality would be genetically transmitted...Visual evidence is often prominent in gay women - broad shoulders, masculine body type in general, including facial features, often a larger body type. This was common in the women I saw at the few gay bars I've been into.
This isn't true of all women I realize, but the fact that a common set of physical traits correspond to lesbianism is at least a clue. I'm trying not to "stereotype" here, so forgive me if I'm not expressing myself clearly. I think you get the drift, though.
Also keep in mind that when I talk about homosexuality, I'm talking about "true" homosexuality. In other words, I'm excluding the hedonists/experimenters/porn stars/I-was-just-practice-kissing-on-my-girlfriend types.
Re:Genes and inheritance
rafael on 2004-03-22T16:25:47
Visual evidence is often prominent in gay women -- probably, but the body of an adult is shaped by a couple of dozen years of hormonal influence and physical activities as well as by genetics; it wouldn't surprise me that the hormonal balance of an homosexual isn't exactly the same than of an heterosexual. (Are there medical studies on this?) Anyway I think there are good chances for a physical (hormonal/genetic) basis to homosexuality, but the point I was questioning is whether this physical basis is actually inherited from parenthood through genes. Hence my parallel with left-handedness, or albinoism, or default of 3-D vision, which are physical characteristics not inheritable.
Re:Nobody wants to play...
zatoichi on 2004-03-22T17:53:58
Scarey Orwellian stuff. I think that most parents would choose to do the same. *Shivers*
